Practice Areas

As assistant general counsel, Sheku Sheikholeslami works closely with Dechert’s general counsel and the firm’s attorneys and personnel to create and implement risk management and compliance procedures, resolve conflicts of interest, advise on issues involving firm policies and internal controls, handle professional responsibility matters, and draft and negotiate commercial contracts and policies.

Ms. Sheikholeslami was previously an associate in the white collar, securities, and complex commercial litigation group. She also has substantial experience in pro bono work, including the representation of plaintiffs in prisoner civil rights actions and of petitioners in habeas corpus proceedings in federal courts.

Ms. Sheikholeslami joined Dechert after a two-year clerkship for the Honorable James T. Giles of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to law school, she provided legal assistance to asylum seekers and refugees through her work at Human Rights First in New York and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Vienna, Austria.

As assistant general counsel, Sheku Sheikholeslami&nbsp;works closely with Dechert’s general counsel and the firm’s attorneys and personnel to create and implement risk management and compliance procedures, resolve conflicts of interest, advise on issues involving firm policies and internal controls, handle professional responsibility matters, and draft and negotiate commercial contracts and policies.
Ms. Sheikholeslami was previously an associate in the white collar, securities, and complex commercial litigation group. She also has substantial experience in pro bono work, including the representation of plaintiffs in prisoner civil rights actions and of petitioners in habeas corpus proceedings in federal courts.
Ms. Sheikholeslami joined Dechert after a two-year clerkship for the Honorable James T. Giles of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to… Continue Reading

Experience

Representation of a major international financial institution in a False Claims Act action brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Representation of a large creditor of a foreign sovereign in judgment enforcement proceedings in sovereign debt actions.

Representation of the former controller of AIG in a securities fraud action.

Defense of private equity funds that invested in municipal bonds and financed healthcare facilities and low-income housing projects, in complex commercial contract and business tort actions, leading to favorable summary judgment outcomes and settlement.

Defense of an individual in an action for punitive sanctions arising out of bankruptcy proceedings.

American University Washington College of Law, J.D., 2006, summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, Recipient of the Public Interest/Public Service Scholarship, Senior Staff Member of the American University Law Review, Senior Articles Editor of The Human Rights Brief

Admissions

Pennsylvania

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Languages

French

German

Moroccan Arabic

Clerkships

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Honorable James T. Giles